Wellbeing

Whole Child...

At Our Lady of Grace School student wellbeing is integral to our work, we are a place to develop the wellbeing of all our students. We strongly believe that we are in partnership with you in the care and wellbeing of your child. Our aim is to build a Catholic school where all in the community work and learn together in a safe and caring environment.

Restorative Practices

"The philosophy and practice of restorative justice in schools is to promote resilience in both the one who is harmed and the one who causes harm. It is about helping young people become aware of the impact of their behaviour on others through personal accountability and being open to learning from conflict situations." Marist Youth Care, Sydney (2004). It is hoped that consistent use of restorative practices in a school setting will change attitudes and represent a philosophical shift in thinking about students and problem behaviours away from the use of punishment, to the management of situations using a restorative approach.

Restorative Practices is a whole school approach to promoting resilience and aims to contribute to the building of positive relationships in school communities. It is focused on helping young people become aware of the impact of their behaviour on others through personal accountability and learning from a conflict situation. An important component of restorative practices is the focus on restoring relationships after harm has been done.

Circle Time

Circle Time, is a fun and interactive initiative where students sit a circle and engage in a range of activities, many of these are games. At Our Lady of Grace School, Circle Time is peer lead by our Year 5 students. These activities are designed to mix students from different year levels to get them interacting outside of normal social and friendship groupings.

Christian Meditation

Children and young adults are born contemplative but in the modern world they are bombarded from an early age with noise, stimulus, and a message to keep busy.

A programme of Christian Meditation aims to teach children to find God in stillness, silence, and simplicity. Or as the Old Testament says: Be still and know that I am God.

The purpose of a programme of Christian Meditation is to impart knowledge about God and to provide first-hand experience of God’s love through the experiential process of “doing” meditation. Through Christian Meditation, children are afforded an opportunity to be silent and experience God in the silence.

KidsMatter

KidsMatter Primary is a flexible, whole-school approach to improving children’s mental health and wellbeing for primary schools. It can be tailored to schools' local needs.

Through KidsMatter Primary, schools undertake a two-to three-year cyclical process in which they plan and take action to be a positive community; one that is founded on respectful relationships and a sense of belonging and inclusion, and that promotes:

social and emotional learning (including evidence-based social and emotional learning programs)

working authentically with parents, carers and families

support for students who may be experiencing mental health difficulties.

When schools take on KidsMatter, they build on the work that they are already doing in these areas. This also links with the work our Social Workers that are doing with the children within the school. For more information on the Social Work being done please click on the link below.